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Hi guys
Please help with advise. Staying contact started recently and it has now been stopped. She says the child gets too distressed leading up to it. Has not offered any other alternatives. Staying contact has been going since June and he is 4. She just said that in a message and will not respond to any messages I send. Made myself available for contact which she did not come to. There is a final order and she has residence.
She has not made any applications to the court to vary the order and I guess is waiting for me to do and pay. She knows I will do it as she has stopped his contact. Further to letting me know she won't be making him available she has sent one more email of her trip abroad in 4 weeks for 4 weeks. She is obviously seeking to create a status quo and when she gets back it have been too long.
What would be the best cause of action to get his staying contact resumed and also to stop her leaving for that long when the child is going to obviously going to be even more reluctant when the time comes again.
was staying contact in the order? If so, then you would need to apply the court for enforcement of the order. If not, then you would need to start mediation to get this into a child arrangement order.
Hi there
As acts says, if overnights were defined in the final order and have been happening since June you can apply for enforcement of the order.
You can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order to try and stop her from taking your child abroad, but as she has residence she is allowed to take him out of the country for up to a month without your permission, so it's unlikely the court would stop her....she doesn't know that though.....
You can write to her formally and tell her that she is in serious breach of the order and unless it is reinstated immediately you will apply for the order to be enforced through the court. You can also say that had she not stopped contact, you would have supported her taking your son out of the country for so long and could have reached an amicable agreement with her about alternative arrangements to make up the lost time on their return, but her actions have left you with no choice but to pursue a Prohibited Steps Order as well as an Enforcement Order, to prevent her from taking him out of the country until the breach and contact issues are sorted out and back in place. Remind her that it is her resonsibility to encourage your son and to elleviate any distress he feels and reassure her that he is settled and happy when he is with you.
All the best
Thank you guys for your replies.
Staying contact is indeed in the order and I did write a letter about enforcement none have been replied to.
I am submitting c79 tomorrow.
Great advice there from Mojo
Good luck with the C79, keep posting and we will do what we can to assist you.
Hello guys
Just an update on this.
The day after my last reply on the 2 November I did go to court to file a C79. However when I got there I got advice that I could first try to write a letter to the judge who made the order as she was sitting so she could hear the matter and that she would not be pleased that her order had been broken. So I did that and she listed a hearing for 25 November for 30 minutes. When we came she really only had 30 minutes and as soon as we went in there my ex made the most horrific allegations that the child had said I had hit her, shouted at her and I live with another partner who is absuve to the child. Judge didn't believe her but said she cannot resume staying contact until a full hearing to hear full evidence had happened which she listed as soon as could on Monday 19 December. We had to submit statements and if the ex wanted she could file a variation form too on the c100 and serve me before this hearing.
She did but not a c100 instead she submitted a c2 C1A for allegations of harm and requested I should be psychologically examined, that she wanted S7 report. She wants contact to happen once a month for 1 hour at a contact centre. Serious false allegations.
Well it looked bad until I sat down and worked on my case for the whole week writing statements, gathering evidence and she could not bring any evidence to any allegation and I could of her messages, behaviour at handovers, and a good chronology and a strong statement and a direct access barrister who hardly got to speak.
We were waiting quiet a while outside while the judge read everything the whole morning. Brought us in after lunch and she made it very clear that this is what she will not be doing a matter of law:
Not ordering S7 report or safeguarding reports
That child is not going anywhere a contact centre
No indipendent specialists
Contact and staying contact to resume immediately extra nights added to replace lost contact while she had stopped it.
Her lawyer argued in vain and the judge said you have made the most grievous allegations and walked in here without a shred of evidence and I told you what my order is going to be. I deal with cases everyday and I see exactly what you are trying to do. I have no concerns about this father.
At which point mother says what if I don't agree and don't do it. The judge say you will do it its order I have made. She storms out of court and the judge says child to be picked up from school on Fridays and handover to a friend she chooses upon return not her.
The end!
If she doesn't stick to the order get in contact with her lawyer and explain the situation tell them you're contacting the court for their client's breach of the order, contact the courts and explain the situation, ask for urgent hearing due to you fear that your ex will attempt to leave the country with your child
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